Reformating Windows XP?

So, my operating system has shit the bed due to various trojans, efforts at removing said trojans, and some over zealous purging of duplicate files which resulted in stability issues. Leaving me at a juncture when really the only thorough fix is to reformat and reinstall from the ground up. I tried repairing my current installation of XP Home Edition, booting off the install CD and following the instructions, but this failed to have any positive results. I went back to just format the drive, and was a little confused with the options I was given, this is where I need some help.

So I'm given the option to delete my hard drives only partition (C:), when I choose this option I am prompted that this partitiion is a system partition that might have essential files put there by the manufacturer...If I have all of my drivers CD's and a copy of my operating system don't I have all I need? Or are there some mystical manufacturer programs that the layman isn't given? I have a feeling all I need to do is delete the compromised partition, create a new system partition, install the operating system, and then install and update all of my drivers. One thing I'm not totally sure about is, When making only one partition on a hard drive should you make it the full size of the drive?

If any of you guys could help me out I would really appreciate it, I can't play any of my steam games, half my apps don't work, and I'm getting bored.

Boot from CD, Format that partition (C:), install XP, update it, download the manufacturers drivers from their website as they're probably more up-to-date than the ones you have on CD

then just start rebuilding, start with a decent anti-virus, AGV is free

What that warning means is that if your only partition is C, Format the drive and everything on it will be wiped (if you have files you want to keep, back them up.

Reformat and destroying the old os is the way to go.
Think of it as an opportunity to reload JUST what you need.
Pare it down to essentials and you have a faster more stable system.

I recomend NOD32 antivirus it is NOT free but worth the money. I guarantee you wont ever get trojans ever again if you do buy it
http://www.eset.com/

Epoch wrote:One thing I'm not totally sure about is, When making only one partition on a hard drive should you make it the full size of the drive?

Yes
like the others said back up anything to cd or w/e that you want to have after the format. As long as you have downloaded the most current drivers for your mobo chipset, video card, sound card and also have them on a cd, you should be good to go, no other mysterious things are needed.

I would reformat but I got at least 27 programs and it will take me a full day to install them all.

My advice... If you have a decent/big HDD space (250 gb +?) try creating another small partition apart.
It has worked really nicely for me, it's pretty comfortable. Every time you want to reformat save everything on the, for instance, 40 gb partition (music, pics, videos, games, etc) and just delete the principal one

I agree with the having a seperate partition for the OS, virus and drivers. It makes times like this soooo much easier.

To avoid next time...

Get hard drives in RAID to avoid major data loss.

Make a Ghost and burn it on a DVD.

Every now and then make DVDs with the most recent drivers for your hardware and vital software. it's a pain in the ass but you'll love it when it comes to getting a fresh system back.

Install an OS on 2 Hard drives, one for work/play,
Another one to download cracks, porn, weird sites, accept any e-mails blabla...


Do any of these and you won't see formatting as a painful shitty process ever again

Well maybe but not as bad heh